Contents

Installation

Install the dunst package. There is no need to start or enable dunst; it is called by systemd when programs send notifications through dbus.

An example configuration file is included at /usr/share/dunst/dunstrc.

Copy this file to ~/.config/dunst/dunstrc and edit it accordingly.

Appearance

Dunst allows for the use of html markup in notifications. Some examples are bold, italics, strikethrough and underline. For a complete reference see [1]. HTML can be stripped from notifications if markup is set to none.

The formatting of the notification can be specified. Options are as follows:

Shortcuts

Idle thresholds can be set letting the notification stay onscreen if the user is idle longer than the threhold.

To close a notification before it times out use Control + space. If multiple notifications are onscreen Control + Shift + Space closes all of them.

Tip: The commands for closing and reopening notifications can be changed. If using a symbol rather than an alphabetical letter it must be spelled out, e.g. period.

A history list can be accessed by using Control + grave. A context menu can be opened using Control + Shift + period. The context menu uses dmenu to filter out URLs and open them in your browser. The default browser can be set in the config like so:

browser = /usr/bin/chromium

Scripting

Dunst can be configured to run scripts based on certain notification content. Here is an example using Dunst to run a script when someone from pidgin signs on: